A Winter Dream
by kallistra
Summary: AFTER THE DUEL. Side Story II. Winter in Domino City and secondary school high school graduation is but a few months away. Anzu falls asleep watching the snow fall by her window. Her dream takes her to possibilities she had not considered. COMPLETE. R


Anzu laid her head on her arms. Snow was falling in Toyko and then soon, in just a few months, it would be time for the graduation ceremony. At that point, the students would disperse from their schools to new ones or new places. For her, after the March ceremony, she was going to catch a flight to New York. Summer would be spent getting to know her new location with a start in autumn to Juilliard. She would be unable to attend the school until then.

But, for now, it was winter break, and she was watching the snowflakes fall. Each one was unique in their crystalline facets and caught the artificial lights from outside. They twinkled and sparkled, and she wondered what people thought of the snow. Were they just as captivated?

She supposed that eventually Yugi or Jonouchi would be calling her soon. Maybe Shizuka would call as well. Jonouchi had encouraged the friendship between the two. It was just as well, she hadn't heard or seen from Mai since she had been freed from the Orichalcos. She, like Shizuka, was one of the few women that could really understand her. Who knew how he affected her.

Anzu supposed it was time for her to get him out of her mind. Of any dates she had gone on, his was the only one that had meant anything to her. A foolish friendship pact had tossed its way around her head of maybe she'd married Yugi or Jonouchi if at a certain age either one of them wasn't married. She almost laughed at loud. She knew better than to consider Bakura. She was absolutely positive she was just not his type. And Honda was out of the question, he was Shizuka's heart. She supposed she'd die an old biddy, the matronly aunt that all the children would visit and she would give them treats.

Drawing a lollipop in the fog on the windowpane, Anzu smiled slightly. It was a simple figure, a circle and a line. She found herself compulsive to add more details. Lines jutted this way and that off the circle. Additional lines from the primary one pointed outward. A loop was drawn just below the circle and a triangle attached to it. She drew more lines away from the main figure in open triangles. Frowning to herself, she realized what she had drawn as a stick figure. She wiped it way, the cool condensation coating her hand. She rubbed her eyes with the hand, moisture on her fingers combining with hot tears that had already formed beneath her lashes.

Sighing to herself one more time, she closed her eyes and fell into a restless nap.

She knew she was dreaming. Everything had a hazy look to it. It was seemingly real but at the same time not. Textures and lines were slightly blurred, not sharp, like looking at the world outside through old glass. Motes of light were dancing around her and old gas lamps illuminated a wintry landscape. Anzu was walking along a freshly shoveled walkway. Oddly, there was no concrete, but cobblestones at her feet. It was looking down at them that she noticed she was wearing a long velvet, violet gown. What a strange dream she thought to herself as she noticed the Victorian accouterments around her.

A man was up ahead on the path. While he was dressed in a dark navy tweed suit, his hair was outlandish for the times. Spiky black hair highlighted in magenta and long blond bangs caressed his forehead and cheeks. She felt her smile break out on her face as she grabbed the heavy skirts in her hands and raced up the path toward him. However, he held a hand out at her. The palm was facing her, biding her to stop before she reached him.

"Atemu?" She questioned in a whispered voice.

She noticed that he was standing on part of the path that diverted from the main one. There were in fact a total of three paths leading to locations unknown. All she had do was place a foot on one. However, each was distinct from the other.

To her right, the path was smooth and she could see well-known landscapes. Kaiba Corporations glistening glass tower stood over Domino City and all the favorite teenage-year's haunts beckoned to her with their familiarity. A comfortable life awaited on this path. It would not be difficult and friends would surround her here. Bright sunlight shined down upon the green spaces and parks.

A middle path of smooth concrete was ahead of her and famous buildings dotted its landscape. She could see the glowing lights of Broadway and fine architecture of the London Theater. Goals and dreams within easy grasp of her if she only take those steps. Opportunity awaited her on this path and a chance for fame and fortune, dreams that could come true. A night sky filled with thousands of stars glittered overhead of this junction.

However, the left path, the one that Atemu stood upon was a landscape of tragedy. Rocks and glass poked out of a broken road. Run-down tenements dotted the area and danger appeared to lurk in every corner. Shadowed people wandered through these, but their backs were turned from her. Like a beacon of light, Atemu stood out against this gray path. The most curious feature, other than Atemu's presence, was the pale rose dawn that marked its backdrop.

"Anzu, you stand at a crossroads," his voice carried to her from the left-most path.

She stayed where she stood and called to him, "What do I choose, Atemu? Why is this here?"

He bowed his head slightly to her, an impish grin played upon his lips. "The here does not matter, and the choice I cannot make for you."

Her brow creased at his response. She pondered for a few minutes before asking him another question. "Would I find you on the path that you stand upon?"

"I..." He looked shock at her; his grin wiped from his face. She crossed her arms in a challenge toward him, waiting for his answer. "Yes."

She started to step toward him, the toe of a silk slipper about to step directly on the rocky, dangerous terrain. He yelled at her to stop.

"Anzu, this is not a path of kindness. The other paths are certain to bring you joys and happiness, free of sorrows. This … this cannot be the path you want to choose."

She looked him in the eyes, blue on violet. His slightly sad and concerned, hers determined and with the strength of her desire. Anzu's voice carried across the dreamscape as she responded to him, "All the comforts and joys mean nothing if my heart is not part of them. My friends are my heart. Atemu, you mean too much to me to take a path of ease when you are standing there before me."

Anzu stepped fully on the dilapidated path and felt a shard of glass shred through the silk of her slipper, piercing her skin. She cried out and almost doubled over from the pain. She could see Atemu reaching for her, but it was as if his feet were glued to where he stood. She bit her lip and pulled herself forward, her other foot was punctured by a sharp nail.

Her movements were slow and each one a tapestry of pain. It felt as if the pain was reaching into her soul, trying to tear her apart. She focused on Atemu and his eyes as he reached for her, wanting to offer her comfort. Anzu was afraid to look behind her, so she simply continued on the path. Her tears were salty on her lips. After what seemed like moments stretched into eternity, the tips of her fingers touched his and he pulled her to him.

Atemu was holding on to her tightly, and she could smell the scents of rivers and sand on his skin. She was panting from the pain and it seemed that he was clinging to her all the tighter. His lips touched her forehead for the briefest moment.

"Anzu," he whispered to her, "are you sure about this?"

She looked into his eyes and nodded, blushing as she said, "Anything for you."

His eyes were etched in anguish as he looked behind her and turned his face to look behind himself. Anzu followed his line of sight and saw the trail of blood from her battered flesh and ahead the landscape grew even more dangerous. However, regardless of the towering sides of darkness, there was still a glimmer of dawn ahead.

"You can turn back anytime, you know," he told her, "The path back is easier than the path in."

"I will walk with you where ever I must."

Atemu's arms tightened around her and he murmured into her hair, "I will protect you as much as I can."

They pulled away from one another, their noses barely an inch apart and easily sharing one another's breath. Anzu could feel her lips parting, wanting to close the distance between them. His chest was warm against her breasts and his arm at her waist kept her pulled tightly to him. He freed a hand and twirled a finger through her hair, it was as inky as night.

"Is this your natural color? I like it." He said to her, a smile playing at his lips again.

"Yeah, I've been lightening my hair for years. It is naturally the same color as my mother's." She added.

He nodded and she laid her head against his shoulder, too nervous to go through with what she wanted to really do at that moment. Atemu rocked her in his arms, and she felt languid. A small yawn escaped her before she realized she was falling asleep in her dream.

Anzu woke up. Her skin was a bit chilled from napping near the window. She couldn't for the life of her remember what she had dreamed but it had seemed both happy and sad at the same time. It was odd, but she didn't feel like she was the lonely one in the crowd of her friends at this moment. Internal warmth suffused her and it was like being cradled in a loved one's arms.

Turning around, she noticed her mother must've come home earlier because a plastic bag with some items in it was nearby. She looked at herself in the glass, dark brown hair framed her oval face and eyes. She looked again at the contents of the bag, her mother had bought dye to cover up her gray hairs. Anzu looked back at herself.

"For some reason, I have the sudden urge to dye my hair to its natural color."

* * *

**A/N: I don't normally write author notes, I want to save my research and information for the end, but consider this a bit of a prologue to Ghosts. It is set a couple of months before she left Tokyo to New York. **


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